Pocket instrument



9 2 5 5 1 w E H Y A M a In m 9 l 0 I m 8 J POCKET INSTRUMENT *Filed Jan. 2. 1926 l lllulllll llll 'l llllhlllllli 23 L43 INVENTOR BY 5% 29M fiun-Li/W ATTORNEYS Patented Jan, 10. 1928.

PATENT O CE j JAMES E; MAY EW, or N W-YORK, N. Y.

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Application filed'il'anuary 2, 1926. Serial No. 78,788.

This invention relates to pocket instruments and particularly to those of the type which are adapted to servein performing a number of difierent operations; Drafts men,v engineers, and many other persons often require the services ofsuch instruments as ton example a rule, "calipers or compass at timesiwhen it is extremely: inconvenient to carry, individual instruments of this kind in the pocket.

The object of the present inventionis to provide an instrument of this character of improved construction which will notonly;

in many instances, serve in" place ofthese" three individual instruments. but" w ll also perform other functions. Thus the pocket instrument of the present invention will The improved instrument or tooloi': the:

invention in general comprises a pair ofco operatlngr-elatively thin flat plates, each of theseplate's having a longitudinally extending tubular portion between the'longitudinal edges thereof,

other thus bringing one of the plates into superposedrelation to the other and securing them in slidable relation one to the other.

The two plates thus havetwo pairs of coop-3 erating marginal portions. A pencilmay be inserted Within the interior of the telescoped tubular portions and, as a pocket clip is. provided ontheouter tubular portion, both the instrument and pencil may be .conve n 'iently and safely. carried.

The invention'will be better undei'st oo d in its various aspects by referring to the accompanyin'g drawings whiohsho w way of example a form of pocket instrument con structed in accordance" \vitlr'the principles'of'l the present invention. In these drawings;

Fig.1 is a perspective view or the-parts of the instrument in telescoped relation and" mounted upon a pencil; s J i J Fig.2 is a plan view of the upper and low- The' improved construction of the These tubular portions of the two plates are telescoped one within the er cooperating plates with their tubular. I

members in telescoped relation;

Fig. 3 1s a: transverse sectional on line 3-'3 of Fig.

Fig. 4 isa front view of the parts of the instrument. assembled as inFig. 2; I,

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate respectively the separate lower and upper cooperatingplates; Fig. 7 illustrates the use of the instrument as a pencil sharpener; f A l w j Figs. 8, 9and' 10 are detailed views show-1 ing the mounting of thefknife; and i Figs. 11 and 12 show. the instrument in use as an inside caliper. V A Referr ng now to these draw ngspthe mproved instrument of the 'invention'comprisesupper and lower. cooperating plates viewftaken or members and21 respectively, each Of said plates having flat marginal portions sepa'rated'by longitudinally extending. tu-

bular portionsfand being madefof men. or any suitable material. Thus the upper member (Fig. 6) has afront marginal por'-" tion 22 and a rear marginalportion 23, these two portionslying fiatin substantially the same plane and being separated by a tubular portion v 24 which extends longitudinally throughout nearly, the whole length of the member. Similarly lower cooperatingm'em-i 'ber 21 comprises afront marginal port on] 25; a rear marg nal portion 26 and a; lOllgltudinal tubular portion 27. y r

The t-ubular portion 24 of the uppermember 20 is slightly larger than the tubular portion 27 i of the lower member .21 and is adapted to fit snugly over the outside ofportion 27fso that these two tubular portions may be telescoped the one within the other as maybe seen in Figs. 1, 2. 3. iand 7.

When the parts are thus'tclescoped, the marginal portions 22 and 23' of theupper member 20 r are heldjiin flat superposed relation upon'the flat marginal portions 25 and 26 r H i The scale28 in inches. centimeters or other desired unit. is laid off upon the rear of the lower member 21-.

marginal portion. 23" of the upper slidable ine-mberQO and a similar scale- 29 is laid off on the" rear marginal portion. 26 time lower slidable member 21 thesetwo; scales 28 and 29 being arranged complementary; to I one anotherso' that when the member 20 slid. to the right of member 21 as viewed in Fig.

2. the digits on thesejtwo"scales willTadd,

thus providing, extension rule twice the length of the'j respective scales 28' 311C129;-

421. By reason of the cooperating tubular structure which maintains the coacting marginal portions 22 and 25, and 23 and 26 in contact with one another the ruleis relatively rigid even when well extended andthe two scales 28 and 29 thus keptin alignment with one another. Along the center line of the tubular portion 27of the lower member 21 there is a series of accurately formed holes 30 of varying diameters corresponding to the sizes of some standard gauge system and by sliding the member 20 either toward the right or left of member 21 as viewed inFig. 2 a plumay of these holes are exposed whereby they may b'eused as a wire and drill gauge.

In. order to provide for the use of the improved instrument as 'a calipering device it is provided with a pair of caliper fingers 31and 32 attached respectively at one end of the slidable members20 and 21. The caliper finger 31 is mounted upon an extension 33 of the front marginal portion 22 which carries the finger 31 slightly beyond oneend ofthe tubular portion 24. The fin ger 32 is spaced a corresponding distance from the end of tubular portion 27 of memher :21 and is attached to member 21 by means of an extension 34 of the rear 1nar-' ginal portion 26 of member 21.

The right hand lateral edge 35 offinger 31- is made straight as is also the left hand lateral. edge 36 of finger 32. The opposite edges of these two fingers are curved for pur-.

poses which will appear later. By sliding theupper member 20 to, the left as is shown in the dotted position of Fig. 2 the finger .31 is carriedto the left offinger 32 and the parallel straight edges 35- and 36 may be used for the purpose of calipering any object which it is desired to place between these edges. Such, a dimension A for example, as shown inFlg. 2 is then read by means of a .scale37 laid off in preferably finely di vided units-along the upper edge of front .marginal portion 22.

l/Vhen members '20 and 21 exactly over-lie" one another so that the ends register, orwhen member 20 is slid to the right of member 21 the straight edge 35 of caliper finger 31 is to the right of straight edge 36 of. caliper finger 32 and hence these edges may be used as an inside caliper to measure the diameter for instance. ofan aperture. In order to use thidevice as, an inside caliper it is neces sary to provide. two scaleswhich are shown in Figs. 11; and 12. In Fig. 11 the diameter ofithe aperture 38 which it is desired to measure is. smaller than the width of the fingers 31 and 32 but inasmuch as these. fin;

' 'gers are made each with one rounded edge as referred to above, the hole may be calipered without difficulty and the diameter of the hole 38 is read on a shortscale 39 on the right hand front edge of marginal portion 25 which is exposed by the sliding of member 20'slightly to the. left to bring the edges 35 and 36 into contact with the surface of hole 38. a The length of scale 39 needs only to be equal to the width of fingers 35 or 36.

,VVhen apertures. larger than the width of fingers 3501 36 are to be calipered it is necessary to slide member 20 to the right of member 21 and the dimensions of such apertures are read by reversing the instrument so as to bring to view a scale 40 upon the back of marginal portion 23 of member 20, this scalebeing exposed by the sliding of the plates one upon theother. 'The dimension of the aperture is indicated by the distance of theright hand end 41 .of member 21 from the right hand end 42 of .member 20 as viewed in Fig. 2. The numbers on. this scale commence where the numbers on scale 39 leave off. In other words, if the highest number 'on scale 39 is A, scale 40 commences with 4".

The tips of fingers 31 and 32 are nicely ground so as'to relieve the extreme sharpness to prevent them from catching in the pocket, and the tip of finger 32 serves admirably for scoring paper or other material when it is desirable to weaken it to facilitate bending.

The lower member 21 is provided with a stylus hole 42 about the center lengthwise of finger 32, and with a series of pencil holes 43 along the marginal portion 25, each of the holes'fof, this series being provided with markings to indicate their respective dis tance from the stylus hole 42. By placing a stylus through the aperture 42 anda pencil in one of the apertures 43 the instrument isused as a compass to draw circular lines. The. upper member. 20 has a longitudinal slot'44 in the marginal portion 22 thereof for thepurpose .of exposing the series of holes 43' so that it is not necessary to separate the members 20 and.21 in order to use the instrument as a compass unless it 'is desiredv to do so. To facilitate its use without separating the members a second series of mark-- lugs for the holes 43 1S placed along the upper surface of marginal portion 22 as indi-;

cated by the reference numeral .45. By bringingtheright hand ends of members 20 and 21 into alignn'ient the markings 45v will register with their respective holes 43 which are viewed through the slot 44.

The stralghtaedge 36 of finger 32-is cut at aright. angle with the straightedge of] short distances in relatively inaccessible places by inserting the instrument endwise into the inaccessible place.

It'was stated above that linger 32 of mem ber 21 was attached thereto by an extension This extension holds the finger in spaced relation to the remainder of the member21, a slot 47 of about the same width as of hardened steel l8 with a single sharpened edge as shown in Fig. 10 and held in place as is shown in Figs. 8 and 9. 7

Referring particularly to Fig. 9 in cutting the slot 47 a tongue l9 of appropriate length to fold around the knife 48is left projecting from the bottom of the slot. A

rectangular aperture 50 is punched in symmetrical relation to the line i which is to formthe bottom of the slot through which thesharpened edge of the knife protrudes after the knife is secured in place. The

tongue 49 is first bent along dotted line 51 around the rear edge of the knife, and then both the knife and the bent tongue are folded along the line forming the bottom of the slot into the position shown in Fig. 8 with the sharpened edge of the knife protruding through the aperture 50. This mounting firmly holds the knife in position and the knife may be used as a cord cutter or a pencil sharpener.

Inasmuch as the knife edge or blade 48 is disposed adjacent the base of the trans versely projecting caliper finger 32, finger 32 forms a sort of guard for preventing the blade from catching in the pocket. Moreover, the front narginal portion 22 of member 20 which extends to the left beyond the tubular portion 24.- is arranged to lie directly in front of the knife edge and completely protects the fingers or hands of the manipulator from coming in contact with the knife.

The outer edge of slot a7 which is the inner edge of finger 32 is shaped to curve gradually out to the tip of finger 32 and finger 32 thus constitutes a slitterblade with a caliper finger at its outer end. This slitter blade is useful in opening envelopes and for like purposes.

by which both the instrument and the pens 011 are conveniently carried in the vest pocket. h I i p i V 7 Because'of the improved construction of the instrument ofthe presentinvention, the

marginalportions carrying the respective scales are held flat against one another in eifective cooperative relation. Furthermore, the compactness of the devicerenders it unobjectionable to carrying in the'pocket.

I claim :5 V i 1. A device of the character described comprising a pair of cooperating members each havingmarginal portionsseparated by a longitudinally extending tubular portion, said tubular portions being telescoped one within the other so .as to secure said members in slidable relationwith the marginal portionof one member superposed upon those of the other, similar scales being pro-' vided along one pair of superposed marginal portions to provide anextensionirule, said device having a stylus aperturefla-nd "a pencil aperture wherebyit may serve asa compass. i

- 2. A device of the character described comprisingapair of cooperating members each'having' marginal portions separated by a. longitudinally extending tubular portion,

said tubular portions being telescoped one within the other so as to SBCUIGESilld. mem: bers in slidable relation with the marginal portions of oneinember superposed upon those of the'other, similar scales being provided along one pair ofsuperposed marginal portions to provide an extension rule, one of said cooperating members having a stylus aperture near one end thereof and a series of pencil apertures along one marginal portion, each of these apertures being marked to indicate its distance from the stylus aperture.

3. A device of the character described comprising: a pair of cooperating members each having marginal portions separated by a longitudinally extending tubular portion,

said tubular portions being telescoped one within the other so as to secure said memhere in slidable relation with the marginal portions of one member superposed upon series of pencil apertures along one marginal portion, each'of these apertures being marked to indicate its distance from the stylus aperture, and the coactlng marginal portion of the upper cooperating 1nem-' ber having a longitudinal slit for exposing said seriesof pencil apertures.

4;. A device of the character described comprising a pair of cooperating members each having marginal portions separated by a longitudinallyextending tubular portion, said tubular portions being telescoped' one-within the other so as to secure said members in slidable relation one to the other with the marginal portions of one member superposed upon those of the other, and a caliper finger projecting lat orally from a marginal portion of each of said members. I

5. A device of the character described comprising a pair of cooperating members secured in longitudinally slidable. relation one to the other and each provided with a laterally projecting caliper finger, said members being slidable to bring said fingers into one relative position to serve as outside calipers and to a second relative position to serve as inside calipers.

6.'A device of the character described comprising a pair of cooperating members each having marginal portions separated by a longitudinally extending tubular portion, said tubular portions being telescoped one within the other so as to secure said members in slidable relation one to the other with the marginal portions of one member superposed upon those of'the other, one marginal portionof one of said members extending longitudinally beyond the tubular portion thereof and carrying at its end a -caliper finger extending laterally across the end of the anember, and a cooperating caliper finger on the other of said members.

7. A device of the character described comprising a pair of cooperatingmembers secured in longitudinally slidable relation one to the other and each provided with a laterally projecting caliper finger, said members being slidable to bring said fingers into onerelativ-e position to serve as outside calipers and into a second relative position to serve as inside calipers and scales being provided upon said members for indicating thespacing of said fingers in both of said positions, the scale for indicating the spacing of said fingers when in said second position bein in two sections, one section being on one side of one of said cooperating members and the other section being on the opposite side of the other member.

8. A device of the character described comprising a pair of cooperating members each having marginal portions separated by a longitudinally extending tubular portion, one of said members having a series of apertures of varying size along the center of the tubular portion thereof toserve as a wire gauge, said tubular portions being telescoped one within the other so as to secure said members in slidable relation one to the other with the marginal portions of one member superposed upon those of the other, said series of holes of varying size being concealed when the tubular portions are in telescoped relation.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

- JAS. E. MAYHEW. 

